Sleep
by Umiki
Summary: SMxTsubasa. She noticed a disturbing pattern emerging.


Umiki here, this ficlet is something I came up with a few hours ago when the dreaded plot bunny sank its little fangs into my brain. I recently have gone through my entire Tsubasa anime and the OVA and this popped up for some reason out of nowhere.

To all people waiting to have a good sueing for no real reason then you just can, I own nothing. Not Sailor Moon nor Tsubasa. Those belong to their respective owners.

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The first time it happened Usagi was surprised to see a small white creature sleeping peacefully next to her head when she opened her eyes. She thought nothing of it since the creature was known to sleep next to everyone. She interacted with her as usual, but Usagi was a little wary all the same.

The second time it happened Usagi nearly fainted from embarrassment when she opened her eyes to see a pair of blue eyes similar to her own. Fai gave her a smile, but had mercifully not teased her about it. Usagi evaded him for the rest of the day.

The third time it happened Usagi wanted to die when she opened her eyes to see a pair of blood red eyes barely holding back from twitching with discomfort. She literally shot backwards to the other side of the room, her face so red she just knew she had created a new color. She couldn't even look him in the eye for days.

The fourth time it happened Usagi dreaded opening her eyes but did so anyway, revealing concerned and lightly worried brown eyes. Without apology or an explanation she ran out of the room in her pajamas. She refused to speak to him for an entire week.

The fifth time it happened Usagi was ready to just fall into an endless black pit when she opened her eyes to see a pair of green eyes watching her with sympathy. Usagi couldn't handle it and, barely remembering to put some more decent public clothes on, dashed out of the building. She could not even let herself be seen until they went to the next world eight days after.

Usagi refused to let it happen again, thus she took precautions. When everyone went to sleep, she sneaked away to a different part of the building. This went on for ten days, and every night she would only be able to get at most four hours of sleep because of the nightmares and trying to not wake anyone up with her unconscious sobs.

The others noticed well into the first week how tired she had become, but every time they tried to get her to talk about it she waved their worries off. What she did not realize was that they in fact had heard her cries every night. With every day that went by, with every morning seeing her becoming more and more like a phantom, with every night hearing muffled cries, it became impossible to ignore.

Thus in the middle of the eleventh night Usagi was shocked to open her eyes and see the face of Sakura laying next to her, with Mokona in between their heads, and Syaoran lying behind Sakura. She was further shocked when she felt something shift behind her and past her head, using her powers she sensed it was Fai behind her and Kurogane sitting upright against the wall. With a blush she realized she was snuggling Sakura against her, she could feel an arm over her shoulder, most likely from Fai, and a hand resting over hers, Syaoran's no doubt, and her head lightly brushed against Kurogane's knee.

She tried to move out of the pile, but the moment she shifted she felt the air around her change. The arm over her shoulder lightly clutched her sleeping clothes, the knee against her head pressed just a fraction closer, the hand over hers laced their fingers, the small ball of furry warmth rolled closer to her, and the body held within her arms relaxed, making it more difficult to attempt remove her arms.

Taking a deep silent breath, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

A few seconds later, "Just go back to sleep." was gently spoken in reply.

Usagi couldn't help it, after ten days of exhaustion, pain, and vivid relived memories, this simple act of acceptance meant more to her broken soul than anyone could possibly imagine. Before she fell asleep again that night, she cried tears of content joy.

Ever since then, no matter what world they were in or what some of the locals thought when they learned of it, all six of them slept in the same room and always clustered together so that all of them were touching her in some fashion; and no one cared about her snuggling habits even when they obviously felt some discomfort, note Kurogane, when she would embrace someone in her sleep.

She never had another nightmare after that. She never woke up in the middle of the night just waiting to cry out in agony and fear. Now she woke after a long nights rest, nightmares the farthest thing from her dreams.

Surrounded by her group, those she could now only see as family.


End file.
